In order to determine how well persons can learn to recognize vibratory speech patterns, six normally-hearing adults felt speech presented to their fingertips through vibrators. (Author)

Given is detailed information about the Optacon reading system, which uses a portable electronic device enabling blind persons to convert inkprint materials into tactile form, as well as features and accessories that extend Optacon use in conjunction with machines such as electronic calculators and typewriters. (LH)

This study investigated the issue of whether young children understand that the acquisition of certain types of knowledge depends on the modality of sensory experience involved. Sight and touch were the two sensory modalities investigated. A total of 36 children of 3-5 years of age were exposed to pairs of objects that either looked the same and…

An exploration of the effects of audiovisual communication modes upon the social environment. (CH)

An exploratory study using interviews of 150 postpartum patients was conducted to determine their perceptions of the touching they received during labor. Answers to the interview questions were analyzed in terms of overall perceptions, positive experiences, and negative experiences, and selected demographic variables were examined for differences…

This booklet contains activities and teaching suggestions that will help elementary students become aware of their environment. It will help teachers foster among their pupils an understanding of their place in nature, a sense of wonder, a reverence for life, thoughtful use of resources, and the realization that the earth is a home to be shared.…

Two experiments involving 42 students from the Model Secondary School for the Deaf investigated both the visual and tactile components in the processing of spatial information. Test measures used were the Figures Rotations Test, Group Embedded Figures Test, and Tactile Rotations Test. The study suggested that spatial reasoning is a determining…

Participant observation and author introspection were used to collect data in this study of nonverbal communication among Italian Americans in three large American cities. Discussion is given to kinesics (gestures and signs), haptics (touch), proxemics (interiors of homes, exteriors of homes, and spatial arrangements at a wedding dinner), and…

Described is the Deaf Blind Communications System (DEBLICOM), a somesensory coded information transfer system in which information is received cutaneously and transmitted kinesthetically. Reported is a pilot study done with 15 normal Ss (13- to 21-years-old) which compared communicative effectiveness of conventional temporal Morse code, spatial…

As a child matures from infancy to early childhood, a shift occurs in his sensory hierarchy from tactile to auditory to visual. The transition between the predominance of the auditory sense and visual sense takes place in about grades four and five. Although the sensory systems do not function singularly (but are integrated in the total action…

Researchers investigated a variety of audiologic procedures to determine whether they could differentiate between auditory thresholds and cutile (cutaneous-tactile) thresholds of 32 deaf adolescents. Ss were classified into one of the following three groups: a cutile group with no pure tone thresholds beyond 750 Hertz (Hz); a group of questionable…

The validity of the Kinesthetic Aftereffect (KAE) as a measure of personality has been criticized because of KAE's poor test-retest reliability. However, systematic bias effects render KA E retest sessions invalid and make test-retest reliability an inappropriate measure of KAE's true reliability. (Author/CTM)

This research tested the hypothesis that grouping has adverse effects on the recall of tactual shapes but facilitates the recall of tactual letters on the assumption that this depends on different processes. A further question was the relation of grouping to letter recall span (set-size).

A study explored the nature of representational thought in 10 congenitally blind three- to nine-year-olds through interviews during which the subjects defined and described objects and later identified similar objects. Results suggested that blind children should be taught appropriate or systematic methods for tactually obtaining information. (CB)

This paper provides an overview of the literature on sensory integration in young children. First it explains the importance of "sensory integration" in child development and normal functioning. It goes on to note signs of a sensory integration dysfunction (such as hyper-or hypo-sensitivity to touch, poor coordination, and poor behavioral…